Embodiments herein generally relate to automated notification methods and systems that select a notification method (from predetermined user-specified notification methods) based on the level of urgency of the event and dynamically change the notification method depending upon a change in the level of urgency of the event and upon user response.
Automated notification methods are useful in providing information to users from monitoring systems. For example, U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0105122 discloses a printer control and information management system that provides for notifications to the appropriate personnel in order to resolve problems which may arise from the operation of the various equipment utilized in the enterprise network system. Information can be redirected to anyone within the system, the user identifying the manner and format of the information to be presented.
In paragraph 45, U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0105122 discloses a peripheral management module that provides notifications when a printer needs servicing. This can be as minor as a paper jam or a printer or other peripheral device needing paper, or more complicated situations such that a service technician needs to review or needs to perform service on the machine. In 2004/0105122, an escalating alert notification model is provided. On an alert event basis, the system is configured such that more urgent alerts are provided when more complex problems are discovered. Within the printer control and document management system of the described embodiment certain events may occur that go unnoticed and the notification system exists to call attention to these events. An alert event is defined as some abnormal condition that exists within the various peripheral components involved in the secure end-to-end delivery of information within the health care facility complex. An alert notification is the information used to describe that abnormal event. A notification mechanism is used to communicate to the recipient of the alert modification. A notification event is defined as the transmission of the alert notification and alert mechanism. The variable amount of lapse time between notification events during an unresolved alert event is an alert interval, and an alert schedule is the number of alert intervals defined for a particular event for each component involved in the system. According to 2004/0105122, notification escalation is used as a process of scheduling each notification event at the appropriate intervals when an alert event remains unsolved.
Further, in 2004/0105122 on an alert event basis, the system can be configured for the alert schedule and alert intervals, each using an independent notification mechanism. Upon execution of each alert interval, one or more alert recipients can be designated through the use of one or more notification mechanisms. Alert mechanisms include, but are not limited to, network message, e-mail, visual on-screen alert, auditory alert, pager, computerized voice mail call directly to the recipient's telephone, a local application launch, a remote application launch or an error log entry. By using variable criteria for an alert event, variable notification mechanisms, variable number of alert intervals, a variable alert schedule, and variable number of alert recipients, the probability of rapid alert event resolution is maximized.
In a similar system disclosed U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0044736 delivering an electronic notification to an intended recipient may include communicating an electronic notification directed to an intended recipient, and determining presence information associated with the intended recipient before attempting to deliver the notification to the intended recipient. A cascaded delivery instruction also may be resolved based on notification information. The presence information and the cascaded delivery instruction may be used to select among several delivery mechanisms potentially available for the intended recipient based on the presence information, and to deliver the electronic notification to the intended recipient at the selected delivery mechanism. The presence information may include an online presence and/or a physical presence of the intended recipient.
In paragraph 78 of 2004/0044736, the notification delivery service may require that the delivery mechanism confirm receipt of the notification or that the user has received the notification. For example, the delivery mechanism may provide an acknowledgement to the notification delivery service at the time at which the delivery mechanism receives the notification. The delivery mechanism also may acknowledge receipt of the notification only after the user has accessed the notification, or otherwise indicated recognition of the notification, within, for example, a predetermined period of time (e.g., an “idle time” threshold period). If the delivery mechanism fails to confirm receipt of the notification, the notification delivery service may perform a redelivery process. The redelivery process may include, for example, redelivery to the delivery mechanism that failed to confirm receipt. That redelivery may continue until a confirmation is received or a predetermined failure threshold is reached. The redelivery process also may include selection of and delivery to another delivery mechanism associated with the user (e.g., delivery to a pager or to email rather than to a preferred mobile phone). Redelivery in this manner may be selected, for example, based on a failure to receive a confirmation indicating that the user has accessed or recognized the notification within the “idle time” threshold period. The delivery process may continue until a delivery mechanism to which delivery of the notification is made confirms that the notification is received. Once a delivery mechanism confirms that the notification is received, the notification delivery process may conclude.
However, conventional systems such as the ones disclosed in 2004/0105122 and 2004/0044736 have shortcomings that the embodiments herein overcome. The most relevant of these shortcomings are described in the following paragraphs. The system disclosed in 2004/0105122 requires the existence of a problem associated with the notification and an element of the system in charge of tracking the solution of the problem. That additional requirement constrains the domains in which the system described in 2004/0105122 could be applied. Moreover, being problem centric, the main goal for the system described in 2004/0105122 is to find a resolution for the problem without delay so notifications are sent to multiple recipients hoping that one of them would solve the problem. Lacking an effective feedback mechanism for individual notifications, the system described in 2004/0105122 may cause that multiple people may be working on the same problem without them being aware of that. On the other hand, the system described in 2004/0044736 fails to take into consideration the dynamic nature of priority for notifications. Also, the goal of the system described in 2004/0044736 is to send notifications to people without delay and that causes it not to consider the optimal use of all available channels. Using the presence information as the main mechanism to identify the channel to be used makes a sub-optimal utilization of channels, as there are many instances when users would like to be notified using a channel in which they are not present at the moment or instances when they would like not to be notified in channels where they are present. Finally, the system described in 2004/0044736 does not consider the likelihood of a notification in a channel being consumed by the user as a characteristic of the channel used to select the delivery method. These shortcomings of previous systems are solved by the embodiments disclosed herein. The system described in the disclosed embodiments does not require the existence of a problem which solution would need to be tracked, nevertheless this system can be used to deliver and track notifications about problems to identified recipients. The system disclosed in the embodiments herein complements the delivery channels with acknowledgement mechanisms that create an effective user controlled feedback about the notification being consumed. The disclosed system also matches the priority of notifications with the appropriate channels so as to make an effective use of all available channels. Finally, the disclosed system also considers the notion of dynamic levels of urgency so that notifications that started as urgent notifications directed to priority channels, could be directed to other less intrusive channels if the urgency of the notification changes.